Colorado, Washington Governors Urge Banking Flexibility for Pot Industry

Trying to get federal regulations to accept it as a legal product

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) are urging federal banking regulators to make federal banking regulations more flexible so that state-licensed marijuana producers, processors, and retailers can gain access to the banking system.

"Colorado and Washington are in the process of implementing citizen initiatives permitting the production, processing, and sale of marijuana to adults for recreational use, in compliance with state law," Hickenlooper and Inslee say in a letter they wrote together. "Access to the banking system by these state-licensed businesses is a necessary component in ensuring a highly regulated marijuana system that will accurately track funds, prevent criminal involvement, and promote public safety. In order to achieve the mutual federal and state goal of establishing tightly-controlled marijuana regulatory systems, we urge you to issue inter-agency guidance that will allow legal, licensed marijuana businesses access to the banking system."